Hajj quota remains unchanged at 0.13m, deal signed

A total of 127,198 Bangladeshis will be able to perform hajj this year, the same as last year, although the quota went unfulfilled in 2023, reports UNB.
Dhaka and Riyadh signed a bilateral agreement in this regard in Jeddah on Monday morning.
The Saudi Arabia delegation included Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah Dr. Abdul Fattah bin Sulaiman Mashat and other officials of Saudi Arabia and the Bangladesh delegation included Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs Md.
Abdul Hamid Jamaddar, President of HAAB M Shahadat Hossain Taslim and other officials of the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
During the meeting, various issues concerning the welfare of Hajj pilgrims from Bangladesh and the management of Hajj in a fair and orderly manner were discussed in detail.
Last year, despite extending the deadline nine times, Bangladesh could not fulfil its quota for Hajj pilgrims.
As many as reservations for Bangladesh remained unfulfilled in 2023, and had to go back to the host country. However it has not led to a reduction in the quota for Bangladesh.
HAAB President M Shahadat Hossain Taslim also urged the Saudi deputy minister to conduct Hajj activities in the same manner as previous years, without reducing the number of Hajj agencies involved.
He said that maintaining the current number of Hajj agencies would be advantageous in delivering services to Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims, especially to the elderly.
Later, the Saudi deputy minister have assured to consider HAAB's request.
The HAAB president requested the development of luggage transportation and better management for Hajj pilgrims, improvements in tent management at Mina and Arafah and the handing over of tents to the agency 10 days before Hajj.
During the meeting, Religious Affairs Secretary Abdul Hamid Jamadar discussed various issues related to Hajj management and the expansion of opportunities for Hajj pilgrims.
FE report adds: The High Court has questioned the legality of the high Hajj package cost announced by the government for the year of 2024. It has issued a rule asking the respondents to explain as to why the Hajj package announced by the government for the year of 2024 should not be declared illegal.
The High Court bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Atabullah passed the order on Monday after hearing a writ petition that sought its directives for re-fixing the price of the Hajj package announced by the government.
Religious Affairs Secretary, Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary, Director General of the Islamic Foundation and Hajj Association of Bangladesh (HAB) have been asked to comply with the rule within two weeks.
The government on November 2 in 2023 declared its Hajj package for the session of 2024. Now the cost for a pilgrim is Tk 0.57 million as a general package and Tk 0.93 million as a special package. Plane fare will be Tk 0.19 million in both package which was almost same in the last year.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs on November 8 in 2023 issued a gazette in this regard. Ashraf-Uz-Zaman, a Supreme Court lawyer, filed a writ petition recently claiming that the government has fixed additional cost in the package. Earlier on November 28 last year, the lawyer sent a legal notice asking the Ministry of Religious Affairs to reduce and re-fix in five days the cost of the hajj package within Tk 0.4 million per pilgrim.

[email protected]